Lies
by Emma Baudelaire
Summary: Oneshot. AU. In which Percy failed to keep another promise.


**AU**

"Are you sure, Percy?" asked Hazel anxiously, her luminous golden eyes were flitting nervously from side to side, and Percy thought that she suddenly looked much younger and much more innocent, like she didn't see the world at its worst.  
>"I'm sure," said Percy seriously, reaching down to pat her shoulders gently. "Look, Hazel..." he added after seeing the nervous look on her face, "I'll be fine...just go find the others, alright?"<br>"Okay, then," said Hazel, brushing a tear from her left eye. Then suddenly, she kissed Percy on the cheek, reminding him of their plane ride to Alaska. Percy felt much warmer after that.

Hazel turned around and hurried off to find the others. She was about five meters away when she turned back and looked Percy dead in the eye, "If you've seen Nico, please...do try and keep him alive, eh?" She made it sound too casual as if they were sharing an inside joke, but Percy noticed that her voice broke midway.  
>Percy gave her a dry smile. "Of course."<p>

"Promise me," said Hazel, and Percy's heart sank. Not because he's afraid of making a promise, but because he was afraid of breaking another one. Hazel's expression, noted Percy, looked exactly like the desperate expression that Nico wore years ago.

Percy felt a lump build up in his throat, then he said with a flat voice that didn't sound like his: "I promise."

****  
>"Hey, Percy," said Hazel, grinning happily as the last of the giants fell, and the fact that Gaea was slumbering once more seemed to awaken everyone's nerves. Everyone was celebrating. Percy saw Dakota from the Fifth Cohort cheering with Pollux, who seemed quite overjoyed of the fact that he had another brother, albeit from another camp.<p>

"Er, hey Hazel," said Percy, forcing an awkward grin. He turned to Annabeth, who was watching curiously from afar. "Wait," he mouthed nervously, and she nodded.

He followed Hazel, who was heading to a large black poplar tree that looked quite undamaged. Percy's heart hammered as Hazel watched him with a broken expression in her eyes, and he wondered whether the grin she gave him not so long ago was genuine. She leaned against the tree's trunk, hugging herself.

"So..." she began, and Percy avoided her eyes. Her eyes had the distinct impression that they could see right through another person, and Percy hates X-rays a lot.  
>"Have you seen Nico?" asked Hazel, "I haven't seen him anywhere. Not even during the battle, he said that..." Her voice broke, and she didn't say anything again. Instead, she continued to look at Percy, who suddenly found the wilted grass to be the most interesting thing in the world.<p>

"I'm sorry, Hazel," said Percy, still avoiding her eyes. "I'm really sorry."

"Sorry for what?" said Hazel, "He's not dead, is he?," "I mean," she added hastily, "you promised, right?"

Percy decided that furthermore avoiding her eyes won't do any help, and he was surprised to see that there were no tears in her eyes. It made Percy feel worse to think that she actually felt confident that he kept his promise...  
>"Look, Hazel," he began, "I'm really sorry. I really am."<p>

"You mean, he's gone?" said Hazel, her face dropping slightly. "No..."

"I'm sorry," repeated Percy. "I-I found him, but he's dying, and there's too many blood and I just-"

"You just what?" cried Hazel.

"I wasn't able to do anything," croaked Percy. The tears that he was trying to restrain were forming yet another lump in his throat, and it was getting harder to get the words out. "I just-"

"I don't believe it," cried Hazel.

"I'm really sorry, Hazel," said Percy. "It's my fault, I should have just-" He reached out and tried to pat Hazel's shoulder, but she flinched before his hand even made contact.

"You promised," said Hazel. The cold disappointment in her voice was worse than the scornful shouts that he expected. Soon enough, small droplets of tears were falling from his eyes, watering his dry and bruised cheeks.

Percy felt like he was fourteen years old again.

_He was standing in front of a shorter boy with dark, unruly hair and coal-black eyes. He was standing in front of Nico di Angelo, whose sister Percy had promised to keep safe.  
><em>_"You promised you would protect her," said Nico bitterly. He might as well have stabbed Percy with a rusty dagger, though Percy doubted that it would hurt as much as reminding him of the promise that he made. The promise that he had broken._

And now, Percy felt like he was watching the whole scene unfold again.

"You promised you would protect him," said Hazel.

"Hazel," said Percy, "I tried. But there really was nothing that-"

"You promised!"

She glared at Percy with her bloodshot golden eyes. Percy noticed that her right hand was closed into a fist. "I shouldn't have trusted you..." her voice broke, :You lied to me!"  
>"I'm sorry, Hazel."<p>

"I hate you!"

"Look," said Percy desperately, "He might be alive. I don't know for sure-"

"He's dead," said Hazel, closing her eyes, her whole body trembling with anger. "I could feel it. He's being judged now."

"Hazel-"

"I hate you," she spat bitterly, "I wish you were dead. I wish I never met you."

"Hazel-"

"He loved you," said Hazel, her eyes brimming with tears. "He told me how much he liked you. He told everyone how much of a great demigod you are..." her voice broke again, and she didn't try to speak again. She ran away from him, back to the celebrating demigods, who'll have no idea of what just happened. Percy watched her figure disappear beneath the crowd.

_He loved you, he told everyone how much of a great demigod you are.  
><em>_You promised you would protect him.  
><em>_I hate you. I wish you were dead._

Percy closed his eyes, with Hazel and Nico's voice still speaking inside his head. For once, he felt lost once more.

**A/N: Aha! I'm sorry if there are a lot of spelling and grammatical mistakes. English is not my first language, so I'm still lousy at it. This is the first fan fiction that I submitted in this site and basically every other site, since I'm usually too lazy to write the whole thing.  
><strong>**Liked it? Hated it? I do care, so please do fav or review my story!**

**This is Emma Baudelaire, signing out!**


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